Non Campus Mentis

Professor Anders Hendricksson, head of the history department at Shepherd College, West Virginia wrote Non Campus Mentis. This rather humorous book contains a thirty year catalogue of "creative" writing from history exams and papers of students at Oxford University, City College of New York, the United States Military Academy, and a host of other campuses across North America. Hendricksson says these creative mistakes occur when students attempt to fill the "cerebral vacuum" brought on by neglect of the material, skipping classes, misinformation from fellow students, or the fact that the student "just doesn't have a clue". Non Campus Mentis is currently on the New York Times best-seller list in the miscellaneous category.

A sampling from the book:

• "The airplane was invented and first flown by the Marx brothers."
• "Hitler's instrumentality of terror was the Gespacho."
• "Plato invented reality. He was teacher to Harris Tottle, author of 'The Replicans'."
• "Germany's William II had a chimp on his shoulder and therefore had to ride his horse with only one hand."
• "The Germans took the by-pass around France's Marginal Line. This was known as the 'Blintz Krieg'."
• "Corruption grew especially ripe in Zaire, where Mobutu was known to indulge in more than an occasional armadillo."
• "The Boston Tea Party was held at Pearl Harbor."
• "Machiavelli, who was often unemployed, wrote 'The Prince' to get a job with Richard Nixon."
• "Americans... wanted no involvement in the French and Indian War because they did not want to fight in India."
• "Moses was told by Jesus Christ to lead the people out of Egypt into the Sahaira (sic) Desert. The Book of Exodus describes this trip... including the Ten Commandments, various special effects and the building of the Suez Canal."
• "Zorroastrologism was founded by Zorro. This was a duelist religion."
• "During the Dark Ages, it was mostly dark."
• "Christianity was just another mystery cult until Jesus was born. The mother of Jesus was Mary, who was different from other women because of her immaculate contraption."
• "Pythagasaurus fathered the triangle."